The difficulties between Chrissie Treacy and her nephew Michael Scott around the issues of land became “more apparent” in the 10 weeks before Chrissie Treacy died, a care worker has told the Central Criminal Court.
It is the state’s case that Scott deliberately drove over his aunt with an agricultural teleporter following a long-running dispute over land. Scott’s defence say that her death was a tragic accident.
Another care worker told the trial that she had concerns for Chrissie Treacy’s welfare arising out of the ongoing difficulties with Scott and reported those concerns to her coordinator.
Michael Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co. Galway has pleaded not guilty to murdering his aunt on April 27, 2018 outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna.
Murder trial
Cecilia Groves told senior counsel, Dean Kelly for the prosecution that she worked as Chrissie Treacy’s carer from 2016 until she died in April 2018.
Ms. Groves said she knew of the ongoing difficulties between Chrissie Treacy and Scott and in spring 2017, she noted that Chrissie was “subdued” and “down on herself” at times during a period when the difficulties between the pair were apparent.
In the 10 weeks before Chrissie Treacy died, the care worker noted that “those ongoing difficulties between Chrissie Treacy and Scott around the land became more apparent”.
The care worker said that her duties were to help Chrissie Treacy wash and dress, to prepare her meals, make her bed, tidy and sweep her house and count her medication.
Every day she would apply cream to Chrissie Treacy’s legs which had “very bad arthritis”, she said.
“She had extremely poor mobility, walked with a limp and would hold onto things to get around the kitchen. Her knee was very painful, she just wasn’t able to walk properly,” she added.
The court heard that Chrissie Treacy “loved a chat”, she said, and would always invite her to sit down for a cup of tea. Some days Treacy was “very low” but others she would be “happy in herself”.
The carer continued: “She was a lovely person but when she was down, she was down. She had her full capacity to look after her affairs and she made it quite clear she wanted to look after her affairs.”
Evidence
The witness got to know Michael Scott as he would often be in the yard where he ran a dairy farm beside Chrissie Treacy’s home.
Ms. Groves said she never saw Chrissie in the yard. On one occasion, when Chrissie Treacy was “very distressed” over the disappearance of her dog Bradley on February 13, 2018 the witness saw Chrissie at the back door.
“That was as far as she went,” Ms. Groves said. On the day Bradley went missing, Ms. Groves stayed with Chrissie Treacy until 10:30 that night because she was so upset. Chrissie Treacy required anti-depression medication after that, she said.
At 9:00 that night, Michael Scott came to the house and said that “the dog would be back in the morning; that it was gone chasing sheep and it would be back”.
On the following Thursday, Ms. Groves met Scott at the milking parlour and he asked if the dog was back. She told him he wasn’t and he said that Bradley was “definitely outside” the day he went missing.
From that time onwards, Ms. Groves said she noticed that the ongoing difficulties between Chrissie Treacy and Micahel Scott around the land became more apparent.
About two weeks before Chrissie Treacy died, a new carer was shadowing Ms. Groves at the Derryhiney house. Ms. Groves said the accused asked who the new carer was and said he had a right to know because he was Chrissie Treacy’s next of kin.
Ms. Groves recalled an occasion when the accused asked, “how is she in there?” to which Ms. Groves replied that Chrissie Treacy had “been through a hard time” because of the death of her two brothers and her sister.
The carer said he replied “it was nothing compared to what I’ve had; my mother died 30 years ago”.
On June 2, 2016, Ms. Groves said she arrived at Chrissie Treacy’s house but could not get in. She asked Scott to help and he “ranted and raved” but then came to let her in.
Inside, she found Chrissie Treacy “in a very poor condition” in bed. She was later diagnosed with pneumonia.
Issues over land
Under cross-examination the witness agreed with senior defence counsel Paul Greene that Chrissie Treacy had good days and bad days.
She did not agree that Chrissie Treacy’s depressive symptoms were due to ill-health. She agreed that in her garda statement in April 2018 she said that Chrissie Treacy was “mobile, she had a limp and it wouldn’t have taken much to knock her over”.
Mary Hanley told solicitor Dean Kelly that in her job as a support officer for Family Care Ireland she would visit Chrissie Treacy once a year to review her care.
On March 6, 2018, about six weeks before Chrissie Treacy’s death, the witness called to the Treacy home.
Ms. Hanley said she became aware of the ongoing difficulties between Chrissie Treacy and Scott over land. Ms. Hanley said that arising from those difficulties she had concerns for Chrissie Treacy’s welfare and later highlighted those concerns to her coordinator.
Ms. Hanley agreed with senior counsel Paul Greene that Chrissie Treacy did not want to change her next of kin or leave her current home.
The trial has heard that Chrissie Treacy and her brothers farmed about 140ac at Derryhiney and that she came to own another farm at nearby Kiltormer.
Following the deaths of Chrissie Treacy’s brothers, Michael Scott came to own half the land at Derryhiney and Chrissie Treacy owned the other half. She leased her land at Kiltormer and Derryhiney to Michael Scott.
Witness Regina Donohue has told the trial that by Christmas 2017, the deceased had made an application through her solicitor to split the land at Derryhiney and put a new lease on the half that she owned.
On the day that Chrissie Treacy died, Scott was to receive a letter from an agricultural consultant telling him that she was applying for a single farm payment on the land she owned but had previously leased to Scott.
The trial continues today (Wednesday, February 22) in front of Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and eight women.